Kia Sorento

Hybrid vehicles keep rising. Can a refreshed Kia Sorento hybrid capture a slice of the market?

The updated Kia Sorento doesn't change drastically, but Kia has made improvements that matter.

This Kia Sorento offers everything an Australian family needs in a package that is comfy, enjoyable, and cohesive.

It was once the best in its segment – but do the updates Kia has applied to the 2024 Sorento make this large SUV even better?

Vehicles with a fuel efficiency of 5L/100km and/or low-emission such as electric and hybrid models are eligible for the reserved parking spaces.

A facelift for the Kia Sorento Hybrid seven-seat SUV has arrived in showrooms.

Kia Australia has had to pause deliveries while it works to rectify the as yet unknown problem.

More than 1200 examples of the facelifted Kia Sorento have been recalled due to fuel consumption labels containing incorrect data.

Need a bit more space on a budget? Here are the most affordable seven-seaters in Australia.

Need extra seats for ferrying the family? Here's every new seven-seat car available in Australia.

Thinking of buying a large SUV? Here are the most affordable models to own and run.

If you're regularly travelling on substandard roads and need a full-size spare, which cars are best?

After the Kia Sorento won Drive Car of the Year we wanted to find out what everyone was talking about.

2011 Kia Sorento SLI Diesel AWD 8/10 + Solid build quality, reliability, fuel economy, performance and handling, quality infotainment and styling, 5 year warranty _ Purchase price At the start of 2011, our Honda Odyssey was approaching 200K with some high servicing costs and reliability issues, so we decided to look for a suitable replacement. We looked at a Nissan Xtrail, Toyota Prado and Kluger, Mitsubishi Pajero, Ford Territory, Hyundai Santa fe and a Skoda Superb. One of the major considerations was trying to decide if we still required a 7 seater as we were a family of 5 (3 teenage children) and have extended family that no longer drive. In the end the Superb would have been my choice, but my wife decided that 7 seats was still a requirement. By chance, I was driving past a Kia showroom and saw a bright shiny silver suv displayed in the window and decided to stop and investigate. Kia at that time was considered the place to go when you wanted cheap and cheerful transport and not much else. I was instantly surprised by the Sorento’s build quality, features and styling and was informed by the sales man that this was the first car Kia had built under the direction of Peter Schreyer ( a former Audi Designer ) and it showed in spades. Much has been written about the miracles Peter Schreyer has performed at Kia and now Hyundai, so I won’t elaborate. Back in 2011, $50000 was a lot to pay for a Kia, workmates thought I was crazy to even consider a Kia and it was hard to convince my wife even to just look at the Sorento. Now in 2019, we still love our Sorento , a 135K’s on the clock and the drivetrain and the interior are holding up well. Fuel economy is something remarkable for a nearly 2 ton vehicle, at low 7’s extra urban and 9’s if you’re a lead foot in the city, these are real figures, not the rubbery GOV figures. Turbo diesel torque and economy was a first experience for us in 2011 and we would consider diesel or hybrid in the future. The effortless nature in overtaking manoeuvres and climbing steep grade hills touring interstate make life on the road that much more enjoyable. The suspension tune is firm, meaning it’s well planted around the bends on a sealed road surface, but is a little choppy on gravel corrugated surfaces. The leather seats, climate control and standard cruise are great comfort features on the road. The Bluetooth, sound quality, connectivity and streaming ability still work well and are enough in infotainment for us at this stage. The small turning circle is great for a car of this size and makes short work of parking and street u turns. Rear view camera and parking sensors are also welcome aids. Servicing costs at first seemed a little high, ($350 minor and 550 major) but servicing a diesel does cost more and is still cheaper than most European petrol rivals During the warranty period, we have had a few issues. The battery being run flat after everything was turned off, this was difficult to diagnose and took a 3 week period to get parts and rectify. Kia supplied us with a loan car for the duration of the repair (with some push from the lease company), a blinking headlight, 2nd row folding latches difficult to operate (replaced), folding key broke, due to poor design( both sets replaced). These faults were all rectified at no cost to us and in general Kia has been good to deal with. In 2019 technology in cars has come a long way, especially passive safety systems and infotainment. Now that Kia has a 7 year warranty it makes for a compelling case to choose another Kia vehicle in the future. Maybe a Cerato GT or Sportage SLI.

This is a follow up of my earlier review here (https://www.caradvice.com.au/owner-reviews/2014-kia-sorento-platinum-4x4-review/), on CarAdvice. The previous review was submitted at the one-year mark. I have now owned my Kia Sorento for four years, and I would like to share my experiences over these years. At the risk of repeating myself from the earlier review, we were looking for a family hauler at the end of 2014. We test drove all 7 seat SUVs that were on offer, and our short list consisted of Toyota Kluger and Kia Sorento. Kluger was a petrol guzzler (and a little expensive for what it offered) and we finally settled on Kia Sorento Platinum (runout), which had a lot of extras with a 7-year warranty. The features list is quite long, and again this is covered in my earlier review. So how did the Sorento fare over four years of ownership? I would say extremely well. We live in North Queensland, on the east coast, and I had to do regular trips out west to Mount Isa, and it has been a pleasure covering the 900+ kms in single days. Seats are comfortable (cooled seats helped :-). The 2.2l turbo diesel engine producing 145KW and 436Nm has plenty of power and torque to push the Sorento along. Overtaking road trains was a breeze, and at no stage I was left wanting for more power. Then came summer, and due to work we were in Mount Isa over the Christmas and New Year break (2018/19), but between my wife and I, we managed to get a week off work. Everyone said we are crazy... but we decided to head to Uluru, Central Australia. Yes, you have heard that right, heading to the hottest part of Australia in the middle of peak summer! So off we went - myself, wife and two kids, all their devices, a satellite phone and more gear than we ever would have needed. We took it easy and planned for 3 days' one-way trips - the first day covering about 700 kms from Mount Isa, across to Camooweal, crossing the border into NT, heading down south to Tennant Creek and staying at Devils Marbles. The second day was shorter, only covering 400 kms driving south to Alice Springs, and the third day, going south and further west, across to Uluru (or Yulara township) - a distance of close to 600 kms. Then back the same way. In hindsight, we could have done Mount Isa to Alice Springs in one day (130 km/h speed limit on Stuart highway really helps), but no real regrets as we were taking it easy with kids on board. The whole trip was done in about 8 days (and covered 3500 kms), with most days reaching 47/48 degrees Celsius. Sorento held up very nicely - with the temperature gauge not budging even a little from its normal position. Fully loaded, with the air conditioning turned up quite high, and a 130 km/h speed limit on the Stuart highway, and the Sorento returned an impressive 7.3 l/100km. With a lighter load, and 110 km/hr speed limit, it usually returns a miserly 6.3 l/100km - giving a 1000 km range per tank. Try travelling that far in an electric car on a single charge! If there is any criticism, I would say that the turbo diesel engine can be a little sluggish at low speeds (speeds of up to 60 km/h). It’s almost as if it has a dual personality disorder :-) - the same engine and drive train (which it shares with Santa Fe) is very smooth on highways (once it reaches above 80 km/h). After four years of ownership, and especially after thousands of km, often in extremely hot and dusty conditions in the outback, one thing is very clear - Sorento is very well put together, and all thoughts of Kia not being reliable have been unfounded. There are Kia Sorentos in the used car markets (same year as mine) that have done 300k kms, and I also see a lot of older Sorentos around. Kia has indeed come a long way in the past few years, and it’s now time to leave any negative perceptions about the brand where it belongs - in the past.

I have seen a few young people write reviews and have seen such positive comments that I thought i would write my own! I am a 17 year old learner driver, and this is my mums car. It has done about 18000ks in 9 or so months, and i have put on approximately 8000ks. (I love driving!) To get started, we were looking for an SUV as it feels safer having a bigger/taller car as we live in the country, and there are a lot of wildlife and farm animals around. AWD/4WD was a must as well as diesel (We do about 25000ks a year). We were looking to upgrade from our Toyota Rav4 (Which is now mine! :-) ), and were looking for a 7 seater, although it wasn't necessary. We looked at many cars, such as the Nissan Pathfinder, as we had that as a hire car for a month and it was a great car, but it only comes with the 3.5 V6 petrol, and the Toyota fortuner, but we couldn't fathom the horrific brown leather seats. As we were walking through the dealerships, I kept telling mum to look at the Kia as it was very nice looking. We ended up purchasing a Snow white Pearl Kia Sorento Platinum AWD with the two tone leather seats, optioned with floor mats, bonnet protector and tow bar, paint protection and tinted windows (Front only as rear were standard). This review is the MY16 Sorento, which doesn't have AEB, but as far as I know they have now included it on the MY17 range. Dammit, Should've waited that little bit longer! The main reason we bought the Sorento was because it ticked every box for us. Diesel, 2 tonne towing, 7 seater, 7 year warranty, 5 star ANCAP safety rating, nice looking and functional. We bought the Platinum version for the active safety such as the Smart cruise control, which I think every car should have because it is the most useful feature on the car, Blind spot monitoring, Lane departure warning and rear cross traffic alert, as well as the niceties such as heated and cooled front seats, heater leather steering wheel and heated rear seats and a HUGE panoramic sunroof as she has never had them on a car before, and thought it would be cool! And the automatic boot, although it sounded incredibly useless when we first heard of it, it's awesome that you can just walk up to the back of the car and the boot opens automatically! The Adaptive Xenon headlight system with the DRL works very well and makes the car look more upmarket, but often at night people mistake them for the high beams and flash asking to change them down. Another thing is there are air vents in the second and third row. Which our Rav4 didn't have. Now with the engine, transmission and drivetrain. Its a 2.2L 4 cylinder turbo diesel, which puts out 147KW @ 3800RPM and 441Nm of torque starting from 1750RPM. Its very smooth, and it gets up and got when you need it, and it is mated to a 6 speed Auto. The engine and transmission combination is awesome, and I much rather driving the Sorento over dad's 3.2L 5 Cylinder Ford Ranger as the gearing ratio is nicer in the Sorento and they both put out the same amount of kilowatts(147Kw), and it is only down 29Nm of torque(Ranger has 470Nm), which I find isn't noticeable. Never have I had a situation where I thought there is not enough power. Overtaking is a breeze, and I am not worried even as a learner. (I'm talking about overtaking a truck on a single lane road, not on the freeway!) The torque is very usable and readily available at such a low RPM. Our car is always set in "Eco" mode, and it averages 7.4L/100Km which is under the claimed 7.8 which is amazing, especially for a 2 tonne 7 seater. The AWD system works very well, and there have been situations where I have quickly put my foot down around a corner, and you can feel the AWD system kicking in and keeping traction. We needed AWD as mums commute to work is 50% dirt roads, and it feels safer with an AWD car. The ride is extremely comfortable, even on the 19inch wheels that come with the Platinum version. Immediately from when we drove it from the dealership, you could tell that Kia had adapted the suspension for the rougher roads of Australia. There's this one massive pothole in Bulla that I always had to change lanes to avoid as in the Rav4 it would throw the whole car up, but on out way home from picking it up, mum ran over it because she was too excited and forgot about it, and it was hardly noticeable! The seats are very comfortable, and with the heated seats it that little bit better! There is also no transmission tunnel in the back, so 3 adults can sit there comfortably. The 3rd row is big enough for adults on short trips, but only if the 2nd row seats aren't reclined all the way back. But its mainly aimed at children. There have been no reliability issues (And I'd hope not with a brand new car! haha!), apart from when we picked the car up the battery was flat. There has been nothing replaced, apart from the log book service. Also the car warns you on the 7 Inch LCD instrument cluster if there is a problem with the car, such as washer fluid, and the tyre pressure monitoring system, as well as the servicing which is very necessary for us as we always forget to service our car on time! The service department was good, but its not like Ford where they wash your car, which would be nice seeming ours is always dusty! I find getting into the 3rd row is fine, but when you pull the latch to get the chair in the 2nd row to move forward, it feel as if your breaking it. Would be nice if it was automatic, but its not major for us as we don't really use the 3rd row much. The infotainment system is very simple and easy to use, it does everything you need, but just isn't as nice as other brands such as Mazda. There are button on both sides of the screen, and you click on each one, as well as the touch screen for different radio stations and whatnot. It would've been nice if it had the same system as the Kia Sportage which has the CD player (The Sorento doesn't have a CD player!?) and a more functional system. But everything on the radio works fine, such as the Satellite navigation, and the reversing camera is pretty clear. The 10 speaker Infinity sound system is a massive upgrade over the stock system in the Rav4, its very precise and crisp. Overall the car is a great buy, especially seeming that its similar priced to a base model BMW X1, and includes so many features, and has a very luxurious feel to it. Sometimes we forget we are in a Kia, not an Audi, or BMW. In the Platinum spec it has everything most families need, plus a little bit more! It's a very safe and practical car! We are very happy and we won't be upgrading for a long time! Thanks for reading! I'm happy to answer any questions (Or atleast try haha) PS. Sorry about the photo! Its the only one I have on my phone!